March 8 Happy Birthday Cathy Oldfield Baker

Happy Birthday March 8th to Cathy Oldfield Baker who plays rhythm guitar, sings lead and harmony and is one of the founding members of Berachah Valley. Cathy is from Franklin, Ohio and still lives there. She studied at Miami University. Cathy has served as Director at Chautauqua Pre-school and taught at Carlisle Local School District. She became Entertainment Manager at Hidden Valley Orchards in 2015.
The band Berachah Valley was created in the spring of 2005, when a few friends came together to play traditional bluegrass, gospel, and traditional renditions of current favorites. The name for the band is found in its theme Bible verse, II Chronicles 20:26 – “And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day.” The members will testify that the camaraderie seen on stage is the natural fruit of the great blessing of good friendships and shared faith.

About the author

I enjoy researching Bluegrass, Bluegrass Gospel, and Country birthdays, anniversaries and interesting trivia dates. I am a piano/organ performance major who has taught privately and served as church accompanist since 1968 in North Carolina and Central Kentucky. Although classically trained, I appreciate all genres of music. My mother, who was also a church musician and taught public school music grades K-12, knew that Bluegrass music was the purest American music. She always introduced her students to this fine genre and began my musical studies with her at age 2. Bach to Berachah Valley, Mozart to Jimmy Martin, Sibelius to Stanley Brothers, the list goes on, I hope you find some moments of enjoyment and learn a few interesting facts along the way.
I am thankful for the many resources we have at our fingertips including Google. FaceBook and BluegrassBios by Wayne Rice. It was he who inspired me to tackle the task of trying to pass on knowledge about Bluegrass music. Thanks Wayne~!
Lou Ellen Wilkie